Covering a bruise on the arm is similar to the way you would do it for the face. However, there are certain things you need to pay attention to because the skin surface and texture on your arm is different from your face.
To get the best tips to effectively cover your bruise on your arm with makeup, I connected with talented makeup artists and asked them to provide for me their best advice.
The best way to cover a bruise on the arm is to apply a smooth primer as a base and then use red or orange lipstick to cover the darker areas. Finish off the look with a dust of translucent powder and cover with a full coverage concealer.
Here’s How to Cover a Bruise on Arm with Makeup:
Method 1 – Prime and Conceal
Lauren Vena is a Celebrity Makeup Artist of over 20 years. She specializes in bridal, special occasions, and editorial makeup. She is also the cover & feature artist for Bella Magazine. Her clients include Nicole Miller, Vanessa Williams, Sara Gore, & more. She has great experience covering bruises and tattoos. She suggests you try the following:
What You Will Need:
- Moisturizing lotion
- Smoothing Primer (Try Makeup Forever Smoothing Primer)
- Matte red or orange lipstick (Try Mac Cosmetics Ruby Woo Retro Matte Lipstick)
- Foundation Brush
- Translucent Powder (Try Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder)
- Full Coverage Concealer (Try Mac Cosmetics Studio Finish Concealer)
- Setting Spray (Try Urban Decay Setting Spray)
Directions:
- Start by moisturizing the skin with a lotion and let the lotion absorb. Don’t use anything too oily or the makeup that you apply on top later will slide off.
- Apply a smoothing primer on the bruise and blend evenly.
- Apply a red/orange matte lipstick on the bruise with a brush to lightly cover dark areas. Red and orange are opposite to blue and green on the color wheel. Therefore, the lipstick can help to neutralize the bruise color and making it less noticeable. Press with a beauty blender to help smooth the application.
- Using a brush, dust, and set the application with a translucent powder.
- Next, apply a full coverage concealer that matches your skin tone to the area. Use a small brush to lightly press into the skin.
- Then set again with Translucent Powder.
- Always finish with Setting Spray!
This method above will also work for tattoos as well! If necessary use smaller brushes to cover tiny details in a tattoo or even Color variations in bumps.
Method 2 – Try Camouflage Cream
Cynthia McMillan is an award-winning makeup artist with over 30 years of experience in the beauty industry. Cynthia is a small town artist with celebrity appeal – beautifying the faces of stars such as American Idol’s Kara DioGuardi and This Is Us star, Chrissy Metz. She is also the founder of McMillan Makeup and Brow Studio.
To cover the bruises on our arm, she suggests you try the following:
What You Need:
- Camouflage Cream (High Pigmented) – Get one with a yellow or gold undertone. This is important because yellow cancels out the blue and purple coloring of the bruise. You also want to be sure that the camouflage cream is slightly LIGHTER than your skin tone.
- Makeup sponge or brush
- Pressed powder foundation (one that matches your skin tone)
Directions:
- Cover the bruise with camouflage cream by rubbing a generous layer on with a sponge or brush, then use your fingers to pat a little bit more over the first layer because you get better coverage with fingers.
- Dust or pat preferably with a pressed powder foundation that MATCHES your skin tone because the camouflage cream will be a bit lighter than your skin, but if the powder matches your skin tone it will blend the camouflage cream into your skin so it’s not obvious that you covered something.
What Can I Use to Cover a Bruise?
The best makeup product to use to cover a bruise is a yellow-toned concealer. Yellow is opposite to purple on the color wheel which means it can be used to neutralize and minimize the appearance of purple on the bruise.
If you don’t have concealer lying around, the best makeup products to cover a bruise without concealer is foundation or camouflage cream. Which one you use depends on the size and color of your bruise.
Let’s compare these options:
Foundation – A foundation is mainly used to cover minor blemishes and even out skin tone. Depending on the size and color of your bruise, using a full-coverage foundation is your best bet. However, you may need to add extra layers to cover your bruise which may make the application unnatural and “cakey”
Concealer – A concealer is thicker than a foundation and is generally used on a targeted area to cover dark circles, dark spots, and blemishes. They are perfect to use on bruises because they provide high coverage on a targeted area and a thin layer is usually all you need to cover your bruise.
Camouflage Cream – A camouflage cream is a highly pigmented makeup that is used to cover bruises, birthmarks, vitiligo, and tattoos on the face and body. It’s commonly used in stage makeup where full coverage is required on large areas. However, a lot of people don’t have this at home as it’s not a common makeup product that people use daily. Therefore, a concealer may still be your best choice for covering bruises.